Well, this is either incredibly sad or utterly hilarious. Apple will stop selling the Mac Pro in Europe on 1 March... Because it doesn't comply with "new" European regulations that will come into effect that day. I say "new" between quotation marks because said regulation was announced four years ago. The regulation deals with increased protection requirements concerning electrical ports and fan guards. "The new requirements necessitate fan guards and some increased protection on the ports on the electrical system," explained Apple, "Because Mac Pro is not compliant with the regulations, we do want to meet that regulation and therefore not offer Mac Pro beyond 1 March." So, a standards body is faster at updating its standards than Apple is at updating its Mac Pro. It illustrates just how much Apple cares about pro users. The last significant update to the Mac Pro occurred in 2010, but Tim Cook did promise an update to the product later in 2013.
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Member since:2009-09-04
Member since:2006-12-24
I'll stick to questions for now.
Why is the EU to blame for Apple being unable to comply with EU regulations which were announced 4 years ago?
Is Apple the only company unable to comply with these regulations?
Why is the government over here anti-tech?
[EDIT] You go to use that gif. Congratulations Thom.
Edited 2013-01-31 19:37 UTC
Member since:2012-11-05
My apologies. Turns out Apple is intending to comply before the end of the year.
http://www.cultofmac.com/213628/apple-forced-to-stop-selling-mac-pr...
This means that, yes, they are just lagging behind in compliance.
Member since:2006-12-24
Member since:2007-10-07
There's some truth in what you say. Many times innovation and the launch of new products to the market are slowed down because of unnecessary regulations. I mean in the EU some things that are not required at all by US and Japan regulations are mandatory.. and the US and Japan regulations are considered to be of a high standard, but hey, more business for European certification authorities!
This is especially bad for small companies which are trying to enter the market; more regulations != better results, but in Europe regulations = good, regardless if they are useless or not. No problem for the big guys, a royal PITA for the small guy who is just trying to make a living with his company, and who has to bear huge costs just to bring a product to the market.
It is sad to see you voted down to -11. I voted you up.
The classic example are cars. In Europe they are over-regulated to the point that you cannot do any meaningful modification to the vehicle, as if the state built the car and gave you it as a gift (yeah.. really?). In the US and in Australia, regulations are very permissive when it comes to tuning and modifications, yet I don't see cars burning down.
Such a shame that people don't think before voting down.
Member since:2009-10-23
I agree. Look at this;
Consider how many people have seriously harmed themselves on computer fans in the past decade. Consider whether the sum total of those people, if greater than nil, wouldn't also be the sort of people who could accidentally decapitate themselves with a walnut, and possibly have in the intervening years. Now consider the amount of money the EU has spent on paying salaries, expenses, test equipment and long lunches in order to come up with this particular jewel and ones like it.
Member since:2011-01-26
Please cite some examples of these regulations of which you speak.
I'm not aware of any useless restrictions on vehicle modification, it's a fairly big industry in the UK. Only restriction I can think of are higher premiums from insurance companies who (probably rightly) assume you're going to drive like an idiot with performance upgrades on a small hatchback.
Member since:2009-05-19
Sure... One might say that food industry regulations are not required, because if you get sick when eating at a restaurant you can just "vote with your feet".(You shouldn't care that you can actually die if poisoned)
Yes, the classic example will be you driving in front of me while I'm on a bicycle and spewing a mixture of exhaust and uncumbusted gasoline, just because you made some modifications. There are requirements for CO2 emissions that you have to pass, and if you don't pass it with your modifications then tough luck. The environment is not your private property.
Yet some people see the ignorance in his post. The regulation is very old now and has a lot of small adjustments for new equipment for safety and efficiency.
You are just agreeing because you dislike some regulations.
Member since:2012-11-05
Meh, ethnocentric Europeans with their USA hate are easy to get going. No different from the nationalists we have here really. Can't and won't see the draw backs to their way of doing things. It's a tribalism pride thing. Though my original comment was wrong about the 'why' of Apple doing this, as I later pointed out, so I understand it getting voted down for that reason, but based on the comments, it's clear that it wasn't voted down because of that.
Member since:2005-08-18
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Member since:
2012-11-05
Wow Thom. Wearing your anti-Apple bias pretty clearly here aren't you? I mean of course Apple isn't just being slow to comply here, they don't want to produce a whole different model for the European market or change their entire design around their regulations (might not make sense economically considering they do such much more sales in the US and Asia). Their, "We'd like to comply," is basically the nice way of telling the European market to go screw off. Considering the over regulated anti-tech environment their (as well as the mess of all the different nation regulations on top) I can't say I'm too surprised. This should be a wake up call to the EU, not Apple.